Reporting the War from Baghdad

In his first Washington speech since his return from Baghdad, Peter Arnett discussed his reporting from Iraq during the Persian Gulf war. Mr. Arnett was the only American reporter allowed by the Iraqi government to remain in Baghdad after the beginning of the Persian Gulf war in January, 1991, and was asked to leave after the cease-fire was announced by the U.S. government. Sen. Alan Simpson criticized Mr. Arnett for being an Iraqi "sympathizer" because of his reporting from Iraq, which was heavily censored by Iraqi authorities. Mr. Arnett elaborated on some aspects of his reporting in Baghdad, including the fact that many of the Iraqi censors were not members of Saddam Hussein's party and were amenable to negotiations over Western reporting. He said that U.S. fears that U.S. journalists' bonding with Iraqi authorities were probably less than Iraqi fears that Iraqi censors were bonding with U.S. journalists. He explained a number of ways in which he was able to overcome Iraqi censorship through subtly evading direct answers to questions during live question and answer periods with his CNN anchors via satellite.